Chapter VI: Part 6

_British Game Fishes_.--On a much smaller scale are the fishes most esteemed in British waters. The bass (_Labrax lupus_) heads the list as a plucky and rather difficult opponent. A fish of 10 lb is a large one, but fifteen-pounders have been taken. Small or "school" bass up to 3 lb or 4 lb may sometimes be caught with the fly (generally a roughly constructed thing with big wings), and when they are really taking the sport is magnificent. In some few localities it is possible to cast for them from rocks with a salmon rod, but usually a boat is required. In other places bass may be caught from the shore with fish bait used on the bottom in quite shallow water. They may again sometimes be caught in mid-water, and in fact there are few methods and few lures employed in sea angling which will not account for them at times. The pollack (_Gadus pollachius_) and coal-fish (_Gadus virens_) come next in esteem. Both in some places reach a weight of 20 lb or more, and both when young will take a fly. Usually, however, the best sport is obtained by trailing some spinning-bait, such as an artificial or natural sand-eel, behind a boat. Sometimes, and especially for pollack, the bait must be kept near the bottom and heavy weights on the line are necessary; the coal-fish are more prone to come to the surface for feeding. The larger grey mullet (_Mugil capito_) is a great favourite with many anglers, as it is extremely difficult to hook, and when hooked fights strongly. Fishing for mullet is more akin to fresh-water fishing than any branch of sea-angling, and indeed can be carried on in almost fresh water, for the fish frequent harbours, estuaries and tidal pools. They can be caught close to the surface, at mid-water and at the bottom, and as a rule vegetable baits, such as boiled macaroni, or ragworms are found to answer best. Usually ground-baiting is necessary, and the finer the tackle used the greater is the chance of sport. Not a few anglers fish with a float as if for river fish. The fish runs up to about 8 lb in weight. The cod (_Gadus morhua_) grows larger and fights less gamely than any of the fish already mentioned. It is generally caught with bait used on the bottom from a boat, but in places codling, or young cod, give some sport to anglers fishing from the shore. The mackerel (_Scomber scomber_) gives the best sport to a bait, usually a strip of fish skin, trailed behind a boat fairly close to the surface, but it will sometimes feed on the bottom. Mackerel on light tackle are game fighters, though they do not usually much exceed 2 lb. Whiting and whiting-pout (_Gadus merlangus_ and _Gadus luscus_) both feed on or near the bottom, do not grow to any great size, and are best sought with fine tackle, usually an arrangement of three or four hooks at intervals above a lead which is called a "paternoster." If one or more of the hooks are on the bottom the tackle will do for different kinds of flat fish as well, flounders and dabs being the two species most often caught by anglers. The bream (_Pagellus centrodontus_) is another bottom-feeder which resembles the fresh-water bream both in appearance and habits. It is an early morning or rather a nocturnal fish, and grows to a weight of 3 lb or 4 lb. Occasionally it will feed in mid-water or even close to the surface. The conger eel (_Conger vulgaris_) is another night-feeder, which gives fine sport, as it grows to a great size, and is very powerful. Strong tackle is essential for conger fishing, as so powerful an opponent in the darkness cannot be given any law. The bait must be on or near the bottom. There are, of course, many other fish which come to the angler's rod at times, but the list given is fairly complete as representing the species which are especially sought. Beside them are occasional (in some waters too frequent) captures such as dog-fish and sharks, skates and rays. Many of them run to a great size and give plenty of sport on a rod, though they are not as a rule welcomed. Lastly, it must be mentioned that certain of the Salmonidae, smelts _(Osmerus eperlanus),_ sea-trout, occasionally brown trout, and still more occasionally salmon can be caught in salt water either in sea-lochs or at the mouths of rivers. Smelts are best fished for with tiny hooks tied on fine gut and baited with fragments of shrimp, ragworm, and other delicacies.

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MODERN AUTHORITIES AND REFERENCE BOOKS.--_History and Literature:_ Prof. A.N. Mayer, _Sport with Gun and Rod_ (New York and Edinburgh), with a chapter on "The Primitive Fish-Hook," by Barnet Phillips; Dr.R. Munro, _Lake Dwellings of Europe_ (London, 1890), with many illustrations and descriptions of early fish-books, &c.; H. Cholmondeley Pennell and others, _Fishing Gossip_ (Edinburgh, 1866), contains a paper on "Fishing and Fish-Hooks of the Earliest Date," by Jonathan Couch; C.D. Badham, _Prose Halieutics_ (London, 1854), full of curious lore, relating, however, more to ichthyophagy than angling; _The Angler's Note-Book and Naturalist's Record_ (London, 1st series 1881, 2nd series 1888), edited by T. Satchell, the two volumes containing much valuable matter on angling history, literature, and other topics; R. Blakey, _Angling Literature_ (London, 1856), inaccurate and badly arranged, but containing a good deal of curious matter not to be found elsewhere; O. Lambert, _Angling Literature in England_ (London, 1881), a good little general survey; J.J. Manley, _Fish and Fishing_ (London, 1881), with chapters on fishing literature, &c.; R.B. Marston, _Walton and Some Earlier Writers on Fish and Fishing_ (London and New York, 1894); _Piscatorial Society's Papers_ (vol. i. London, 1890), contains a paper on "The Useful and Fine Arts in their Relation to Fish and Fishing," by S.C. Harding; _Super Flumina_ (Anon.; London, 1904), gives _passim_ useful information on fishing literature; T. Westwood and T. Satchell, _Bibliotheca Piscatoria_ (London, 1883) an admirable bibliography of the sport: together with the supplement prepared by R.B. Marston, 1901, it may be considered wonderfully complete.

_Methods and Practice._--General Fresh-water Fishing: F. Francis, _A Book on Angling_ (London, 1885), though old, a thoroughly sound text-book, particularly good on salmon fishing; H.C. Pennell and others, _Fishing--Salmon and Trout and Pike and Coarse Fish_ (Badminton Library, 2 vols., London, 1904); John Bickerdyke, _The Book of the All-Round Angler_ (London, 1900); Horace G. Hutchinson and others, _Fishing (Country Life_ Series, 2 vols., London, 1904), contains useful ichthyological notes by G.A. Boulenger, a chapter on "The Feeding of Salmon in Fresh-Water," by Dr.J. Kingston Barton, and a detailed account of the principal salmon rivers of Norway, by C.E. Radclyffe.

_Salmon and Trout._--Major J.P. Traherne, _The Habits of the Salmon_ (London, 1889); G.M. Kelson, _The Salmon Fly_ (London, 1895), contains instructions on dressing salmon-flies; A.E. Gathorne Hardy, _The Salmon_ ("Fur, Feather and Fin Series," London, 1898); Sir H. Maxwell, Bt., _Salmon and Sea Trout_ (Angler's Library, London, 1898); Sir E. Grey, Bt., _Fly Fishing_ (Haddon Hall Library, London and New York, 1899); W. Earl Hodgson, _Salmon Fishing_ (London, 1906), contains a series of coloured plates of salmon flies; Marquis of Granby, _The Trout_ ("Fur, Feather and Fin Series," London, 1898). Wet Fly Fishing: W.C. Stewart, _The Practical Angler_ (London, 1905), a new edition of an old but still valuable work; E.M. Tod, _Wet Fly Fishing_ (London, 1903); W. Earl Hodgson, _Trout Fishing_ (London, 1905), contains a series of admirable coloured plates of artificial flies. Dry Fly Fishing: F.M. Halford, _Dry-Fly Fishing in Theory and Practice_ (London, 1902), the standard work on the subject; G.A.B. Dewar, _The Book of the Dry Fly_ (London, 1897). Grayling: T.E. Pritt, The Book of the Grayling (Leeds, 1888); H.A. Rolt, _Grayling Fishing in South Country Streams_ (London, 1905).

_Coarse Fish._--C.H. Wheeley, _Coarse Fish_ (Angler's Library, London, 1897); J.W. Martin, _Practical Fishing_ (London); _Float-fishing and Spinning_ (London, 1885); W. Senior and others, _Pike and Perch_ ("Fur, Feather and Fin Series," London, 1900); A.J. Jardine, _Pike and Perch_ (Angler's Library, London, 1898); H.C. Pennell, _The Book of the Pike_ (London, 1884); Greville Fennell, _The Book of the Roach_ (London, 1884).

_Sea Fishing._--J.C. Wilcocks, _The Sea Fisherman_ (London, 1884); John Bickerdyke (and others), _Sea Fishing_ (Badminton Library, London, 1895); _Practical Letters to Sea Fishers_ (London, 1902); F.G. Aflalo, _Sea Fish_ (Angler's Library, London, 1897); P.L. Haslope, _Practical Sea Fishing_ (London, 1905).

_Tackle, Flies, &c._--H.C. Pennell, _Modern Improvements in Fishing Tackle_ (London, 1887); H.P. Wells, _Fly Rods and Fly Tackle_ (New York and London, 1901); A. Ronalds, _The Fly-Fisher's Entomology_ (London, 1883); F.M. Halford, _Dry Fly Entomology_ (London, 1902); _Floating Flies and How to Dress them_ (London, 1886); T.E. Pritt, _North Country Flies_ (London, 1886); H.G. M'Clelland, _How to tie Flies for Trout and Grayling_ (London, 1905); Capt. J.H. Hale, _How to tie Salmon Flies_ (London, 1892); F.G. Aflalo, John Bickerdyke and C.H. Wheeley. How to buy Fishing Tackle (London).

_Ichthyology, Fisheries, Fish-Culture, &c._--Dr. Francis Day, _Fishes of Great Britain and Ireland_ (2 vols., London, 1889); _British and Irish Salmonidae_ (London, 1887); Dr. A.C.L.G. Günther, _Introduction to the Study of Fishes_ (London, 1880); Dr. D.S. Jordan, _A Guide to the Study of Fishes_ (2 vols., New York and London, 1905); F. Francis, _Practical Management of Fisheries_ (London, 1883); _Fish Culture_ (London, 1865); F.M. Halford, _Making a Fishery_ (London, 1902); J.J. Armistead, _An Angler's Paradise_ (Dumfries, 1902); F. Mather, _Modern Fish-Culture_ (New York, 1899); Livingstone Stone, _Domesticated Trout_ (Charlestown and London, 1896).

_Angling Guide Books, Geographical Information, &c._--Great Britain: _The Angler's Diary_ (London), gives information about most important waters in the British Isles, and about some foreign waters, published annually; _The Sportsman's and Tourist's Guide to Scotland_ (London), a good guide to angling in Scotland, published twice a year; Augustus Grimble, _The Salmon Rivers of Scotland_ (London, 1900, 4 vols.); _The Salmon Rivers of Ireland_ (London, 1903); _The Salmon and Sea Trout Rivers of England and Wales_ (London, 1904, 2 vols.), this fine series gives minute information as to salmon pools, flies, seasons, history, catches, &c.; W.M. Gallichan, _Fishing in Wales_ (London, 1903); _Fishing in Derbyshire_ (London, 1905); J. Watson, _English Lake District Fisheries_ (London, 1899); C. Wade, _Exmoor Streams_ (London, 1903); G.A.B. Dewar, _South Country Trout Streams_ (London, 1899); "Hi Regan," _How and Where to Fish in Ireland_ (London, 1900); E.S. Shrubsole, _The Land of Lakes_ (London, 1906), a guide to fishing in County Donegal. Europe: "Palmer Hackle," _Hints on Angling_ (London, 1846), contains "suggestions for angling excursions in France and Belgium," but they are too old to be of much service; W.M. Gallichan, _Fishing and Travel in Spain_ (London, 1905); G.W. Hartley, _Wild Sport with Gun, Rifle and Salmon Rod_ (Edinburgh, 1903), contains a chapter on huchen fishing; Max von dem Borne, _Wegweiser für Angler durch Deutschland, Oesterreich und die Schweiz_ (Berlin, 1877), a book of good conception and arrangement, and still useful, though out of date in many particulars; _Illustrierte Angler-Schule (der deutschen Fischerei Zeitung)_, Stettin, contains good chapters on the wels and huchen; H. Storck, Der Angelsport (Munich, 1898), contains a certain amount of geographical information; E.B. Kennedy, _Thirty Seasons in Scandinavia_ (London, 1904), contains useful information about fishing; General E.F. Burton, _Trouting in Norway_ (London, 1897); Abel Chapman, _Wild Norway_ (London, 1897); F. Sandeman, _Angling Travels in Norway_ (London, 1895). America: C.F. Holder, _Big Game Fishes of the United States_ (New York, 1903); J.A. Henshall, _Bass, Pike, Perch and Pickerel_ (New York, 1903); Dean Sage and others, _Salmon and Trout_ (New York, 1902); E.T.D. Chambers, Angler's Guide to Eastern Canada (Québec, 1899); Rowland Ward, _The English Angler in Florida_ (London, 1898); J. Turner Turner, _The Giant Fish of Florida_ (London, 1902). India: H.S. Thomas, _The Rod in India_ (London, 1897); "Skene Dhu," _The Mighty Mahseer_ (Madras, 1906), contains a chapter on the acclimatization of trout in India and Ceylon. New Zealand: W.H. Spackman, _Trout in New Zealand_ (London, 1894); Capt. Hamilton, _Trout Fishing and Sport in Maoriland_ (Wellington, 1905), contains a valuable section on fishing waters.

_Fishery Law._--G.C. Oke, _A Handy Book of the Fishery Laws_ (edited by J.W. Willis Band and A.C. M'Barnet, London, 1903).

ANGLO-ISRAELITE THEORY, the contention that the British people in the United Kingdom, its colonies, and the United States, are the racial descendants of the "ten tribes" forming the kingdom of Israel, large numbers of whom were deported by Sargon king of Assyria on the fall of Samaria in 721 B.C. The theory (which is fully set forth in a book called _Philo-Israel_) rests on premises which are deemed by scholars--both theological and anthropological--to be utterly unsound.

ANGLO-NORMAN LITERATURE:--The French language (_q.v._) came over to England with William the Conqueror. During the whole of the 12th century it shared with Latin the distinction of being the literary language of England, and it was in use at the court until the 14th century. It was not until the reign of Henry IV. that English became the native tongue of the kings of England. After the loss of the French provinces, schools for the teaching of French were established in England, among the most celebrated of which we may quote that of Marlborough. The language then underwent certain changes which gradually distinguished it from the French spoken in France; but, except for some graphical characteristics, from which certain rules of pronunciation are to be inferred, the changes to which the language was subjected were the individual modifications of the various authors, so that, while we may still speak of Anglo-Norman writers, an Anglo-Norman language, properly so called, gradually ceased to exist. The prestige enjoyed by the French language, which, in the 14th century, the author of the _Manière de language_ calls "le plus bel et le plus gracious language et plus noble parler, apres latin d'escole, qui soit au monde et de touz genz mieulx prisée et amée que nul autre (quar Dieux le fist si douce et amiable principalement à l'oneur et loenge de luy mesmes. Et pour ce il peut comparer au parler des angels du ciel, pour la grand doulceur et biaultée d'icel)," was such that it was not till 1363 that the chancellor opened the parliamentary session with an English speech. And although the Hundred Years' War led to a decline in the study of French and the disappearance of Anglo-Norman literature, the French language continued, through some vicissitudes, to be the classical language of the courts of justice until the 17th century. It is still the language of the Channel Islands, though there too it tends more and more to give way before the advance of English.

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It will be seen from the above that the most flourishing period of Anglo-Norman literature was from the beginning of the 12th century to the end of the first quarter of the 13th. The end of this period is generally said to coincide with the loss of the French provinces to Philip Augustus, but literary and political history do not correspond quite so precisely, and the end of the first period would be more accurately denoted by the appearance of the history of William the Marshal in 1225 (published for the _Societe de l'histoire de France_, by Paul Meyer, 3 vols., 1891-1901). It owes its brilliancy largely to the protection accorded by Henry II. of England to the men of letters of his day. "He could speak French and Latin well, and is said to have known something of every tongue between'the Bay of Biscay and the Jordan.' He was probably the most highly educated sovereign of his day, and amid all his busy active life he never lost his interest in literature and intellectual discussion; his hands were never empty, they always had either a bow or a book" (_Dict. of Nat. Biog._). Wace and Benoît de Sainte-More compiled their histories at his bidding, and it was in his reign that Marie de France composed her poems. An event with which he was closely connected, viz. the murder of Thomas Becket, gave rise to a whole series of writings, some of which are purely Anglo-Norman. In his time appeared the works of Béroul and Thomas respectively, as well as some of the most celebrated of the Anglo-Norman _romans d'aventure_. It is important to keep this fact in mind when studying the different works which Anglo-Norman literature has left us. We will examine these works briefly, grouping them into narrative, didactic, hagiographic, lyric, satiric and dramatic literature.

_Narrative Literature:_ (_a_) _Epic and Romance_.--The French epic came over to England at an early date. We know that the _Chanson de Roland_ was sung at the battle of Hastings, and we possess Anglo-Norman MSS. of a few _chansons de geste_. The _Pèlerinage de Charlemagne_ (Koschwitz, _Altfranzösische Bibliothek_, 1883) was, for instance, only preserved in an Anglo-Norman manuscript of the British Museum (now lost), although the author was certainly a Parisian. The oldest manuscript of the _Chanson de Roland_ that we possess is also a manuscript written in England, and amongst the others of less importance we may mention _La Chançun de Willame_, the MS. of which has (June 1903) been published in facsimile at Chiswick (cf. Paul Meyer, _Romania_, xxxii. 597-618). Although the diffusion of epic poetry in England did not actually inspire any new _chansons de geste_, it developed the taste for this class of literature, and the epic style in which the tales of _Horn_, of _Bovon de Hampton_, of _Guy of Warwick_ (still unpublished), of _Waldef_ (still unpublished), and of _Fulk Fitz Warine_ are treated, is certainly partly due to this circumstance. Although the last of these works has come down to us only in a prose version, it contains unmistakable signs of a previous poetic form, and what we possess is really only a rendering into prose similar to the transformations undergone by many of the _chansons de geste_ (cf. L. Brandin, _Introduction to Fulk Fitz Warine_, London, 1904).

The interinfluence of French and English literature can be studied in the Breton romances and the _romans d'aventure_ even better than in the epic poetry of the period. The _Lay of Orpheus_ is known to us only through an English imitation; the _Lai du cor_ was composed by Robert Biket, an Anglo-Norman poet of the 12th century (Wulff, Lund, 1888). The _lais_ of Marie de France were written in England, and the greater number of the romances composing the _matière de Bretagne_ seem to have passed from England to France through the medium of Anglo-Norman. The legends of Merlin and Arthur, collected in the _Historia Regum Britanniae_ by Geoffrey of Monmouth ([+] 1154), passed into French literature, bearing the character which the bishop of St. Asaph had stamped upon them. Chrétien de Troye's _Perceval_ (c. 1175) is doubtless based on an Anglo-Norman poem. Robert de Boron (c. 1215) took the subject of his Merlin (published by G. Paris and J. Ulrich, 1886, 2 vols., _Société des Anciens Textes_) from Geoffrey of Monmouth. Finally, the most celebrated love-legend of the middle ages, and one of the most beautiful inventions of world-literature, the story of Tristan and Iseult, tempted two authors, Béroul and Thomas, the first of whom is probably, and the second certainly, Anglo-Norman (see ARTHURIAN LEGEND; GRAIL, THE HOLY; TRISTAN). One _Folie Tristan_ was composed in England in the last years of the 12th century. (For all these questions see _Soc. des Anc. Textes_, Muret's ed. 1903; Bédier's ed. 1902-1905). Less fascinating than the story of Tristan and Iseult, but nevertheless of considerable interest, are the two _romans d'aventure_ of Hugh of Rutland, _Ipomedon_ (published by Kölbing and Koschwitz, Breslau, 1889) and _Protesilaus_ (still unpublished) written about 1185. The first relates the adventures of a knight who married the young duchess of Calabria, niece of King Meleager of Sicily, but was loved by Medea, the king's wife. The second poem is the sequel to _Ipomedon_, and deals with the wars and subsequent reconciliation between Ipomedon's sons, Daunus, the elder, lord of Apulia, and Protesilaus, the younger, lord of Calabria. Protesilaus defeats Daunus, who had expelled him from Calabria. He saves his brother's life, is reinvested with the dukedom of Calabria, and, after the death of Daunus, succeeds to Apulia. He subsequently marries Medea, King Meleager's widow, who had helped him to seize Apulia, having transferred her affection for Ipomedon to his younger son (cf. Ward, _Cat. of Rom._, i. 728). To these two romances by an Anglo-Norman author, _Amadas et Idoine_, of which we only possess a continental version, is to be added. Gaston Paris has proved indeed that the original was composed in England in the 12th century (_An English Miscellany presented to Dr. Furnivall in Honour of his Seventy-fifth Birthday_, Oxford, 1901, 386-394). The Anglo-Norman poem on the _Life of Richard Coeur de Lion_ is lost, and an English version only has been preserved. About 1250 Eustace of Kent introduced into England the _roman d'Alexandre_ in his _Roman de toute chevalerie_, many passages of which have been imitated in one of the oldest English poems on Alexander, namely, _King Alisaunder_ (P. Meyer, _Alexandre le grand_, Paris, 1886, ii. 273, and Weber, _Metrical Romances_, Edinburgh).

(_b_) _Fableaux, Fables and Religious Tales_.--In spite of the incontestable popularity enjoyed by this class of literature, we have only some half-dozen _fableaux_ written in England, viz. _Le chevalier à la corbeille, Le chevalier qui faisait parler les muets, Le chevalier, sa dame et un clerc, Les trois dames, La gageure, Le prêtre d'Alison, La bourgeoise d'Orléans_ (Bédier, _Les Fabliaux_, 1895). As to fables, one of the most popular collections in the middle ages was that written by Marie de France, which she claimed to have translated from _King Alfred_. In the _Contes moralisés_, written by Nicole Bozon shortly before 1320 (_Soc. Anc. Textes_, 1889), a few fables bear a strong resemblance to those of Marie de France.

The religious tales deal mostly with the Mary Legends, and have been handed down to us in three collections:

(i.) The Adgar's collection. Most of these were translated from William of Malmesbury ([+] 1143?) by Adgar in the 12th century ("Adgar's Marien-Legenden," _Altfr. Biblioth_. ix.; J.A. Herbert, _Rom_. xxxii. 394).

(ii.) The collection of Everard of Gateley, a monk of St. Edmund at Bury, who wrote _c_. 1250 three Mary Legends (_Rom_. xxix. 27).

(iii.) An anonymous collection of sixty Mary Legends composed _c_. 1250 (Brit. Museum Old Roy. 20 B, xiv.), some of which have been published in Suchier's _Bibliotheca Normannica_; in the _Altf. Bibl_. See also Mussafia, "Studien zu den mittelalterlichen Marien-legenden" in _Sitzungsh. der Wien. Akademie_ (t. cxiii., cxv., cxix., cxxiii., cxxix.).

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Another set of religious and moralizing tales is to be found in Chardri's _Set dormans_ and _Josaphat, c._ 1216 (Koch, _Altfr. Bibl._, 1880; G. Paris, _Poèmes et légendes du moyen âge_).

(_c_) _History_.--Of far greater importance, however, are the works which constitute Anglo-Norman historiography. The first Anglo-Norman historiographer is Geoffrey Gaimar, who wrote his _Estorie des Angles_ (between 1147 and 1151) for Dame Constance, wife of Robert Fitz-Gislebert (_The Anglo-Norman Metrical Chronicle,_ Hardy and Martin, i. ii., London, 1888). This history comprised a first part (now lost), which was merely a translation of Geoffrey of Monmouth's _Historia regum Britanniae_, preceded by a history of the Trojan War, and a second part which carries us as far as the death of William Rufus. For this second part he has consulted historical documents, but he stops at the year 1087, just when he has reached the period about which he might have been able to give us some first-hand information. Similarly, Wace in his _Roman de Rou et des dues de Normandie_ (ed. Andresen, Heilbronn, 1877-1879, 2 vols.), written 1160-1174, stops at the battle of Tinchebray in 1107 just before the period for which he would have been so useful. His _Brut_ or _Geste des Bretons_ (Le Roux de Lincy, 1836-1838, 2 vols.), written in 1155, is merely a translation of Geoffrey of Monmouth. "Wace," says Gaston Paris, speaking of the _Roman de Rou_, "traduit en les abrégeant des historiens latins que nous possédons; mais çà et là il ajoute soit des contes populaires, par exemple sur Richard 1'er, sur Robert 1'er, soit des particularités qu'il savait par tradition (sur ce même Robert le magnifique, sur l'expédition de Guillaume, &c.) et qui donnent à son oeuvre un réel intérêt historique. Sa langue est excellente; son style clair, serré, simple, d'ordinaire assez monotone, vous plaît par sa saveur archaïque et quelquefois par une certaine grâce et une certaine malice."

The _History of the Dukes of Normandy_ by Benoît de Sainte-More is based on the work of Wace. It was composed at the request of Henry II. about 1170, and takes us as far as the year 1135 (ed. by Francisque Michel, 1836-1844, _Collection de documents inédits,_ 3 vols.). The 43,000 lines which it contains are of but little interest to the historian; they are too evidently the work of a _romancier courtois,_ who takes pleasure in recounting love-adventures such as those he has described in his romance of Troy. Other works, however, give us more trustworthy information, for example, the anonymous poem on Henry II.'s _Conquest of Ireland_ in 1172 (ed. Francisque Michel, London, 1837), which, together with the _Expugnatio hibernica_ of Giraud de Barri, constitutes our chief authority on this subject. The _Conquest of Ireland_ was republished in 1892 by Goddard Henry Orpen, under the title of _The Song of Dermot and the Earl_ (Oxford, Clarendon Press). Similarly, Jourdain Fantosme, who was in the north of England in 1174, wrote an account of the wars between Henry II., his sons, William the Lion of Scotland and Louis VII., in 1173 and 1174 (_Chronicle of the reigns of Stephen_ ... III., ed. by Joseph Stevenson and Fr. Michel, London, 1886, pp. 202-307). Not one of these histories, however, is to be compared in value with _The History of William the Marshal, Count of Striguil and Pembroke,_ regent of England from 1216-1219, which was found and subsequently edited by Paul Meyer (_Société de l'histoire de France,_ 3 vols., 1891-1901). This masterpiece of historiography was composed in 1225 or 1226 by a professional poet of talent at the request of William, son of the marshal. It was compiled from the notes of the marshal's squire, John d'Early ([+] 1230 or 1231), who shared all the vicissitudes of his master's life and was one of the executors of his will. This work is of great value for the history of the period 1186-1219, as the information furnished by John d'Early is either personal or obtained at first hand. In the part which deals with the period before 1186, it is true, there are various mistakes, due to the author's ignorance of contemporary history, but these slight blemishes are amply atoned for by the literary value of the work. The style is concise, the anecdotes are well told, the descriptions short and picturesque; the whole constitutes one of the most living pictures of medieval society. Very pale by the side of this work appear the _Chronique_ of Peter of Langtoft, written between 1311 and 1320, and mainly of interest for the period 1294-1307 (ed. by T. Wright, London, 1866-1868); the _Chronique_ of Nicholas Trevet (1258?-1328?), dedicated to Princess Mary, daughter of Edward I. (Duffus Hardy, _Descr. Catal._ III., 349-350); the _Scala Chronica_ compiled by Thomas Gray of Heaton ([+] _c._ 1369), which carries us to the year 1362-1363 (ed. by J. Stevenson, Maitland Club, Edinburgh, 1836); the _Black Prince,_ a poem by the poet Chandos, composed about 1386, and relating the life of the Black Prince from 1346-1376 (re-edited by Francisque Michel, London and Paris, 1883); and, lastly, the different versions of the _Brutes,_ the form and historical importance of which have been indicated by Paul Meyer (_Bulletin de la Société des Anciens Textes,_ 1878, pp. 104-145), and by F.W.D. Brie (_Geschichte und Quellen der mittelenglischen Prosachronik, The Brute of England or The Chronicles of England,_ Marburg, 1905).

Finally we may mention, as ancient history, the translation of Eutropius and Dares, by Geoffrey of Waterford (13th century), who gave also the _Secret des Secrets,_ a translation from a work wrongly attributed to Aristotle, which belongs to the next division (_Rom._ xxiii. 314).

_Didactic Literature_.--This is the most considerable, if not the most interesting, branch of Anglo-Norman literature: it comprises a large number of works written chiefly with the object of giving both religious and profane instruction to Anglo-Norman lords and ladies. The following list gives the most important productions arranged in chronological order:--

Philippe de Thaun, _Comput, c_. 1119 (edited by E. Mall, Strassburg, 1873), poem on the calendar; _Bestiaire, c_. 1130 (ed. by E. Walberg, Paris, 1900; cf. G. Paris, _Rom._ xxxi. 175); _Lois de Guillaume le Conquérant_ (redaction between 1150 and 1170, ed. by J.E. Matzke, Paris, 1899); _Oxford Psalter, c_. 1150 (Fr. Michel, _Libri Psalmorum versio antiqua gallica_, Oxford, 1860); _Cambridge Psalter, c_. 1160 (Fr. Michel, _Le Livre des Psaumes,_ Paris, 1877); _London Psalter,_ same as Oxford Psalter (cf. Beyer, _Zt. f. rom. Phil._ xi. 513-534; xii. 1-56); _Disticha Catonis_, translated by Everard de Kirkham and Elie de Winchester (Stengel, _Ausg. u. Abhandlungen_); _Le Roman de fortune_, summary of Boetius' _De consolatione philosophiae,_ by Simon de Fresne (_Hist. lit._ xxviii. 408); _Quatre livres des rois_, translated into French in the 12th century, and imitated in England soon after (P. Schlösser, _Die Lautverhältnisse der quatre livres des rois,_ Bonn, 1886; _Romania,_ xvii. 124); _Donnei des Amanz,_, the conversation of two lovers, overheard and carefully noted by the poet, of a purely didactic character, in which are included three interesting pieces, the first being an episode of the story of Tristram, the second a fable, _L'homme et le serpent,_ the third a tale, _L'homme et l'oiseau_, which is the basis of the celebrated _Lai de l'oiselet_ (_Rom._ xxv. 497); _Livre des Sibiles_ (1160); _Enseignements Trebor_, by Robert de Ho (=Hoo, Kent, on the left bank of the Medway) [edited by Mary Vance Young, Paris; Picard, 101; cf. G. Paris, _Rom._ xxxii. 141]; _Lapidaire de Cambridge_ (Pannier, _Les Lapidaires français_); Frére Angier de Ste. Frideswide, _Dialogues,_ 29th of November 1212 (_Rom._ xii. 145-208, and xxix.; M.K. Pope, _Étude sur la langue de Frère Angier,_ Paris, 1903); _Li dialoge Grégoire le pape_, ed. by Foerster, 1876; _Petit Plet_, by Chardri, _c._ 1216 (Koch, _Altfr Bibliothek._ i., and Mussafia, _Z.f.r.P._ iii. 591); _Petite philosophie, c._ 1225 (_Rom._ xv. 356; xxix. 72); _Histoire de Marie et de Jésus (Rom._ xvi. 248-262); _Poème sur l'Ancien Testament_ (_Not. et Extr._ xxxiv. 1, 210; _Soc. Anc. Textes_, 1889, 73-74); _Le Corset_ and _Le Miroir,_ by Robert de Gretham (_Rom._ vii. 345; xv. 296); _Lumière as Lais,_ by Pierre de Peckham, _c._ 1250 (_Rom._ xv. 287); an Anglo-Norman redaction of _Image du monde, c._ 1250 (_Rom._ xxi. 481); two Anglo-Norman versions of _Quatre soeurs_ (Justice, Truth, Peace, Mercy), 13th century (ed. by Fr. Michel, _Psautier d'Oxford,_ pp. 364-368, _Bulletin Soc. Anc. Textes,_ 1886, 57, _Romania,_ xv. 352); another _Comput_ by Raüf de Lenham, 1256 (P. Meyer, _Archives des missions,_ 2nd series iv. 154 and 160-164; _Rom._ xv. 285); _Le chastel d'amors,_ by Robert Grosseteste or Greathead, bishop of Lincoln ([+] 1253) [ed. by Cooke, _Carmina Anglo-Normannica_, 1852, Caxton Society]; _Poème sur l'amour de Dieu et sur la haine du péché_, 13th century, second part (_Rom._ xxix. 5); _Le mariage des neuf filles du diable_ (_Rom._ xxix. 54); _Ditie d' Urbain_, attributed without any foundation to Henry I. (P. Meyer, _Bulletin Soc. Anc. Textes_, 1880, p. 73 and _Romania_ xxxii, 68); _Dialogue de l'évêque Saint Julien et son disciple_ (_Rom._ xxix. 21); _Poème sur l'antichrist et le jugement dernier_, by Henri d'Arci (_Rom._ xxix. 78; _Not. et. Extr._ 35, i. 137). Wilham de Waddington produced at the end of the 13th century his _Manuel des péchés_, which was adapted in England by Robert of Brunne in his _Handlying Sinne_ (1303) [_Hist. lit._ xxviii. 179-207; _Rom._ xxix. 5, 47-53]; see Furnivall,_Robert of Brunne's Handlying Synne_ (Roxb. Club, 1862); in the 14th century we find Nicole Bozon's _Contes moralisés_ (see above); _Traité de naturesse_ (_Rom._ xiii. 508); _Sermons_ in verse (P. Meyer, op. cit. xlv.); _Proverbes de bon enseignement_ (op. cit. xlvi.). We have also a few handbooks on the teaching of French. Gautier de Biblesworth wrote such a treatise _à Madame Dyonise de Mountechensi pur aprise de langage_ (Wright, _A Volume of Vocabularies_; P. Meyer, _Rec. d'anc. textes_, p. 360 and _Romania_ xxxii, 22); _Orthographia gallica_ (Sturzinger, _Altfr. Bibl._ 1884); _La manière de language_, written in 1396 (P. Meyer, _Rev. crit. d'hist. et de litt._ nos. compl. de 1870); _Un petit livre pour enseigner les enfants de leur entreparler comun françois_, c. 1399 (Stengel, _Z. für n.f. Spr. u. Litt._ i. 11). The important _Mirour de l'omme_, by John Gower, contains about 30,000 lines written in very good French at the end of the 14th century (Macaulay, _The Complete Works of John Gower_, i., Oxford, 1899).

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_Hagiography_.--Among the numerous lives of saints written in Anglo-Norman the most important ones are the following, the list of which is given in chronological order:--_Voyage de Saint Brandan_ (or _Brandain_), written in 1121, by an ecclesiastic for Queen Aelis of Louvain (_Rom. St._ i. 553-588; _Z.f.r.P._ ii. 438-459; _Rom._ xviii. 203. C. Wahlund, _Die altfr. Prosaübersetz. von Brendan's Meerfahrt_, Upsala, 1901); life of St. Catherine by Clemence of Barking (_Rom._ xiii. 400, Jarnik, 1894); life of St Giles, c. 1170, by Guillaume de Berneville (_Soc. Anc. Textes fr._, 1881; _Rom._ xi. and xxiii. 94); life of St. Nicholas, life of Our Lady, by Wace (Delius, 1850; Stengel, _Cod. Digby_, 66); Uhlemann, _Gram. Krit. Studien zu Wace's Conception und Nicolas_, 1878; life of St. George by Simon de Fresne (_Rom._ x. 319; J.E. Matzke, _Public. of the Mod. Lang. Ass. of Amer._ xvii. 1902; _Rom._ xxxiv. 148); _Expurgatoire de Ste. Patrice_, by Marie de France (Jenkins, 1894; Eckleben, _Aelteste Schilderung vom Fegefeuer d.H. Patricius_, 1851; Ph. de Felice, 1906); _La vie de St. Edmund le Rei_, by Denis Pyramus, end of 12th century (_Memorials of St. Edmund's Abbey_, edited by T. Arnold, ii. 1892; _Rom._ xxii. 170); Henri d'Arci's life of St. Thais, poem on the Antichrist, _Visio S. Pauli_ (P. Meyer, _Not. et Extr._ xxxv. 137-158); life of St. Gregory the Great by Frère Angier, 30th of April 1214 (_Rom._ viii. 509-544; ix. 176; xviii. 201); life of St. Modwenna, between 1225 and 1250 (Suchier, _Die dem Matthäus Paris zugeschriebene Vie de St. Auban_, 1873, pp. 54-58); Fragments of a life of St Thomas Becket, c. 1230 (P. Meyer, _Soc. Anc. Text. fr._, 1885); and another life of the same by Benoit of St. Alban, 13th century (Michel, _Chron. des ducs de Normandie; Hist. Lit._ xxiii. 383); a life of Edward the Confessor, written before 1245 (Luard, _Lives of Edward the Confessor_, 1858; _Hist. Lit._ xxvii. 1), by an anonymous monk of Westminster; life of St. Auban, c. 1250 (Suchier, op. cit.; Uhlemann, "Über die vie de St. Auban in Bezug auf Quelle," &c. _Rom. St._ iv. 543-626; ed. by Atkinson, 1876). _The Vision of Tnudgal_, an Anglo-Norman fragment, is preserved in MS. 312, Trinity College, Dublin; the MS. is of the 14th century; the author seems to belong to the 13th (_La vision de Tondale_, ed. by Friedel and Kuno Meyer, 1906). In this category we may add the life of Hugh of Lincoln, 13th century (_Hist. Lit._ xxiii. 436; Child, _The English and Scottish Popular Ballads_, 1888, p. v; Wolter, _Bibl. Anglo-Norm._, ii. 115). Other lives of saints were recognized to be Anglo-Norman by Paul Meyer when examining the MSS. of the Welbeck library (_Rom._ xxxii. 637 and _Hist. Lit._ xxxiii. 338-378).

_Lyric Poetry._--The only extant songs of any importance are the seventy-one _Ballads_ of Gower (Stengel, _Gower's Minnesang_, 1886). The remaining songs are mostly of a religious character. Most of them have been discovered and published by Paul Meyer (_Bulletin de la Soc. Anc. Textes_, 1889; _Not. et Extr._ xxxiv; _Rom._ xiii. 518, t. xiv. 370; xv. p. 254, &c.). Although so few have come down to us such songs must have been numerous at one time, owing to the constant intercourse between English, French and Provençals of all classes. An interesting passage in _Piers Plowman_ furnishes us with a proof of the extent to which these songs penetrated into England. We read of:

"... dykers and deluers that doth here dedes ille,
And dryuen forth the longe day with 'Deu, vous saue,
Dame Emme!'" (Prologue, 223 f.)

One of the finest productions of Anglo-Norman lyric poetry written in the end of the 13th century, is the _Plainte d'amour_ (Vising, Göteborg, 1905; _Romania_ xiii. 507, xv. 292 and xxix. 4), and we may mention, merely as literary curiosities, various works of a lyrical character written in two languages, Latin and French, or English and French, or even in three languages, Latin, English and French. In _Early English Lyrics_ (Oxford, 1907) we have a poem in which a lover sends to his mistress a love-greeting composed in three languages, and his learned friend replies in the same style (_De amico ad amicam, Responcio_, viii and ix).

_Satire_.--The popularity enjoyed by the _Roman de Renart_ and the Anglo-Norman version of the _Riote du Monde_ (_Z.f. rom. Phil._ viii. 275-289) in England is proof enough that the French spirit of satire was keenly appreciated. The clergy and the fair sex presented the most attractive target for the shots of the satirists. However, an Englishman raised his voice in favour of the ladies in a poem entitled _La Bonté des dames_ (Meyer, _Rom._ xv. 315-339), and Nicole Bozon, after having represented "Pride" as a feminine being whom he supposes to be the daughter of Lucifer, and after having fiercely attacked the women of his day in the _Char d'Orgueil_ (_Rom._ xiii. 516), also composed a _Bounté des femmes_ (P. Meyer, op. cit. 33) in which he covers them with praise, commending their courtesy, their humility, their openness and the care with which they bring up their children. A few pieces of political satire show us French and English exchanging amenities on their mutual shortcomings. The _Roman des Français_, by André de Coutances, was written on the continent, and cannot be quoted as Anglo-Norman although it was composed before 1204 (cf. Gaston Paris: _Trois versions rimées de l'évangile de Nicodème, Soc. Anc. Textes_, 1885), it is a very spirited reply to French authors who had attacked the English.

_Dramatic Literature_.--This must have had a considerable influence on the development of the sacred drama in England, but none of the French plays acted in England in the 12th and 13th centuries has been preserved. _Adam_, which is generally considered to be an Anglo-Norman mystery of the 12th century, was probably written in France at the beginning of the 13th century (_Romania_ xxxii. 637), and the so-called Anglo-Norman _Resurrection_ belongs also to continental French. It is necessary to state that the earliest English moralities seem to have been imitations of the French ones.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.--Apart from the works already mentioned see generally: Scheibner, "Über die Herrschaft der frz. Sprache in England" (Annaberg, Progr. der Königlichen Realschule, 1880, 38 f.); Groeber, _Grundr. der romanischen Philologie_, ii. iii. (Strassburg, 1902); G. Paris, _La Litt. fr. au moyen âge_ (1905); _Esquisse historique de la litt. fr. au moyen âge_ (1907); _La Litt. norm, avani l'annexion 912-1204_ (Paris, 1899); "L'Esprit normand en Angleterre," _La Poésie au moyen âge_ (2nd series 45-74, Paris, 1906); Thomas Wright, _Biographia britannica literaria_ (Anglo-Norman period, London, 1846); Ten Brink, _Geschichte der englischen Litteratur_ (Berlin, 1877, i. 2); J.J. Jusserand, _Hist. litt. du peuple anglais_ (2nd ed. 1895, vol. i.); W.H. Schofield, _English Literature from the Norman Conquest to Chaucer_ (London, 1906); Johan Vising, _Franska Sprâket i England_ (Göteborg, 1900, 1901, 1902).

(L. BR.)

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ANGLO-SAXON CHRONICLE. It is usual to speak of "the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle"; it would be more correct to say that there are four Anglo-Saxon Chronicles. It is true that these all grow out of a common stock, that in some even of their later entries two or more of them use common materials; but the same may be said of several groups of medieval chronicles, which no one dreams of treating as single chronicles. Of this fourfold Chronicle there are seven MSS. in existence; _C.C.C. Cant._ 173 (A); _Cott. Tib._ A vi. (B); _Cott. Tib._ B i. (C); _Cott. Tib._ B iv. (D); _Bodl. Laud. Misc._ 636 (E); _Cott. Domitian_ A viii. (F); _Cott. Otho_ B xi. (G). Of these G is now a mere fragment, and it is known to have been a transcript of A. F is bilingual, the entries being given both in Saxon and Latin. It is interesting as a stage in the transition from the vernacular to the Latin chronicle; but it has little independent value, being a mere epitome, made at Canterbury in the 11th or 12th century, of a chronicle akin to E. B, as far as it goes (to 977), is identical with C, both having been copied from a common original, but A, C, D, E have every right to be treated as independent chronicles. The relations between the four vary very greatly in different parts, and the neglect of this consideration has led to much error and confusion. The common stock, out of which all grow, extends to 892. The present writer sees no reason to doubt that the idea of a national, as opposed to earlier local chronicles, was inspired by Alfred, who may even have dictated, or at least revised, the entries relating to his own campaigns; while for the earlier parts pre-existing materials, both oral and written, were utilized. Among the latter the chronological epitome appended to Bede's _Ecclesiastical History_ may be specially mentioned. But even this common stock exists in two different recensions, in A, B, C, on the one hand, and D, E on the other. The main points of difference are that in D, E (1) a series of northern annals have been incorporated; (2) the Bede entries are taken, not from the brief epitome, but from the main body of the _Eccl. Hist._ The inference is that, shortly after the compiling of this Alfredian chronicle, a copy of it was sent to some northern monastery, probably Ripon, where it was expanded in the way indicated. Copies of this northernized Chronicle afterwards found their way to the south. The impulse given by Alfred was continued under Edward, and we have what may be called an official continuation of the history of the Danish wars, which, in B, C, D extends to 915, and in A to 924. After 915 B, C insert as a separate document a short register of Mercian affairs during the same period (902-924), which might be called the acts of Æthelflaed, the famous "Lady of the Mercians," while D has incorporated it, not very skilfully, with the official continuation. Neither of these documents exists in E. From 925 to 975 all the chronicles are very fragmentary; a few obits, three or four poems, among them the famous ballad on the battle of Brunanburh, make up the meagre tale of their common materials, which each has tried to supplement in its own way. A has inserted a number of Winchester entries, which prove that A is a Winchester book. And this local and scrappy character it retains to 1001, where it practically ends. At some subsequent time it was transferred bodily to Canterbury, where it received numerous interpolations in the earlier part, and a few later local entries which finally tail off into the Latin acts of Lanfranc. A may therefore be dismissed. C has added to the common stock one or two Abingdon entries, with which place the history of C is closely connected; while D and E have a second group of northern annals 901-966, E being however much more fragmentary than D, omitting, or not having access to, much both of the common and of the northern material which is found in D. From 983 to 1018 C, D and E are practically identical, and give a connected history of the Danish struggles under Æthelred II. This section was probably composed at Canterbury. From 1018 the relations of C, D, E become too complicated to be expressed by any formula; sometimes all three agree together, sometimes all three are independent; in other places each pair in turn agree against the third. It may be noted that C is strongly anti-Godwinist, while E is equally pro-Godwinist, D occupying an intermediate position. C extends to 1066, where it ends abruptly, and probably mutilated. D ends at 1079 and is certainly mutilated. In its later history D is associated with some place in the diocese of Worcester, probably Evesham. In its present form D is a comparatively late MS., none of it probably much earlier, and some of it later, than 1100. In the case of entries in the earlier part of the chronicles, which are peculiar to D, we cannot exclude the possibility that they may be late interpolations. E is continued to 1154. In its present form it is unquestionably a Peterborough book. The earlier part is full of Peterborough interpolations, to which place many of the later entries also refer. But (apart from the interpolations) it is only the entries after 1121, where the first hand in the MS. ends, which were actually composed at Peterborough. The section 1023-1067 certainly, and possibly also the section 1068-1121, was composed at St. Augustine's, Canterbury; and the former is of extreme interest and value, the writer being in close contact with the events which he describes. The later parts of E show a great degeneration in language, and a querulous tone due to the sufferings of the native population under the harsh Norman rule; "but our debt to it is inestimable; and we can hardly measure what the loss to English history would have been, if it had not been written; or if, having been written, it had, like so many another English chronicle, been lost."

BIBLIOGRAPHY.--The above account is based on the introduction in vol. ii. of the Rev. C. Plummer's edition of _Two of the Saxon Chronicles Parallel_ (Clarendon Press, 1892, 1899); to which the student may be referred for detailed arguments. The _editio princeps_ of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle was by Abraham Wheloc, professor of Arabic at Cambridge, where the work was printed (1643-1644). It was based mainly on the MS. called G above, and is the chief source of our knowledge of that MS. which perished, all but three leaves, in the Cottonian fire of 1723. Edmund Gibson of Queen's College, Oxford, afterwards bishop of London, published an edition in 1692. He used Wheloc's edition, and E, with collations or transcripts of B and F. Both Wheloc and Gibson give Latin translations. In 1823 appeared an edition by Dr. Ingram, of Trinity College, Oxford, with an English translation. Besides A, B, E, F, Ingram used C and D for the first time. But both he and Gibson made the fatal error of trying to combine the disparate materials contained in the various chronicles in a single text. An improvement in this respect is seen in the edition made by Richard Price (d. 1833) for the first (and only) volume of _Monumenta Historica Britannica_ (folio 1848). There is still, however, too much conflation, and owing to the plan of the volume, the edition only extends to 1066. A translation is appended. In 1861 appeared Benjamin Thorpe's six-text edition in the Rolls Series. Though not free from defects, this edition is absolutely indispensable for the study of the chronicles and the mutual relations of the different MSS. A second volume contains the translation. In 1865 the Clarendon Press published _Two Saxon Chronicles (A and E) Parallel, with supplementary extracts from the others_, by the Rev. John Earle. This edition has no translation, but in the notes and introduction a very considerable advance was made. On this edition is partly based the later edition by the Rev. C. Plummer, already cited above. In addition to the translations contained in the editions already mentioned, the following have been issued separately. The first translation into modern English was by Miss Anna Gurney, privately printed in 1819. This was largely based on Gibson's edition, and was in turn the basis of Dr. Giles' translation, published in 1847, and often reprinted. The best translation is that by the Rev. Joseph Stevenson, in his series of _Church Historians of England_ (1853). Up to the Conquest it is a revision of the translation contained in _Mon. Hist. Brit._ From that point it is an independent translation.

(C. PL.)

ANGLO-SAXON LAW. 1. The body of legal rules and customs which obtained in England before the Norman conquest constitutes, with the Scandinavian laws, the most genuine expression of Teutonic legal thought. While the so-called "barbaric laws" (_leges barbarorum_) of the continent, not excepting those compiled in the territory now called Germany, were largely the product of Roman influence, the continuity of Roman life was almost completely broken in the island, and even the Church, the direct heir of Roman tradition, did not carry on a continuous existence: Canterbury was not a see formed in a Roman province in the same sense as Tours or Reims. One of the striking expressions of this Teutonism is presented by the language in which the Anglo-Saxon laws were written. They are uniformly worded in English, while continental laws, apart from the Scandinavian, are all in Latin. The English dialect in which the Anglo-Saxon laws have been handed down to us is in most cases a common speech derived from West Saxon--naturally enough as Wessex became the predominant English state, and the court of its kings the principal literary centre from which most of the compilers and scribes derived their dialect and spelling. Traces of Kentish speech may be detected, however, in the _Textus Roffensis_, the MS. of the Kentish laws, and Northumbrian dialectical peculiarities are also noticeable on some occasions, while Danish words occur only as technical terms. At the conquest, Latin takes the place of English in the compilations made to meet the demand for Anglo-Saxon law texts as still applied in practice.

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2. It is easy to group the Anglo-Saxon laws according to the manner of their publication. They would fall into three divisions: (1) laws and collections of laws promulgated by public authority; (2) statements of custom; (3) private compilations of legal rules and enactments. To the first division belong the laws of the Kentish kings, Æthelberht, Hlothhere and Eadric, Withraed; those of Ine of Wessex, of Alfred, Edward the Elder, Æthelstan,[1] Edmund, Edgar, Æthelred and Canute; the treaty between Alfred and Guthrum and the so-called treaty between Edward and Guthrum. The second division is formed by the convention between the English and the Welsh _Dunsaetas_, the law of the Northumbrian priests, the customs of the North people, the fragments of local custumals entered in Domesday Book. The third division would consist of the collections of the so-called _Pseudo-leges Canuti_, the laws of Edward the Confessor, of Henry I., and the great compilation of the _Quadripartitus_, then of a number of short notices and extracts like the fragments on the "wedding of a wife," on oaths, on ordeals, on the king's peace, on rural customs (_Rectitudines singularum personarum_), the treatises on the reeve (_gerefa_) and on the judge (_dema_), formulae of oaths, notions as to wergeld, &c. A fourth group might be made of the charters, as they are based on Old English private and public law and supply us with most important materials in regard to it. Looking somewhat deeper at the sources from which Old English law was derived, we shall have to modify our classification to some extent, as the external forms of publication, although important from the point of view of historical criticism, are not sufficient standards as to the juridical character of the various kinds of material. Direct statements of law would fall under the following heads, from the point of view of their legal origins: i. customary rules followed by divers communities capable of formulating law; ii. enactments of authorities, especially of kings; iii. private arrangements made under recognized legal rules. The first would comprise, besides most of the statements of custom included in the second division according to the first classification, a great many of the rules entered in collections promulgated by kings; most of the paragraphs of Æthelberht's, Hlothhere's, and Eadric's and Ine's laws, are popular legal customs that have received the stamp of royal authority by their insertion in official codes. On the other hand, from Withraed's and Alfred's laws downwards, the element of enactment by central authority becomes more and more prominent. The kings endeavour, with the help of secular and clerical witan, to introduce new rules and to break the power of long-standing customs (e.g. the precepts about the keeping of holidays, the enactments of Edmund restricting private vengeance, and the solidarity of kindreds as to feuds, and the like). There are, however, no outward signs enabling us to distinguish conclusively between both categories of laws in the codes, nor is it possible to draw a line between permanent laws and personal ordinances of single sovereigns, as has been attempted in the case of Frankish legislation.

[Footnote 1: The _Judicia civitatis Lundoniae_ are a gild statute confirmed by King Æthelstan.]